With the System Center 2012 R2 release just around the corner, a big question for many is what's changed in the various components. The answer for Orchestrator: not much.

Orchestrator is still 32-bit. The consoles are not updated. The integration packs for the most part are not updated. So here's what's new and changed:

Windows Server 2012 R2 support: This is true of all the System Center components. You can install on the Server 2012 R2 platform

Service Management Automation (SMA): As part of the R2 focus on the cloud, the SMA web service and up to three runbook workers can be installed when running the Orchestrator setup program. You can use these as part of the Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server configuration, or run runbooks and perform other automation tasks using PowerShell cmdlets. Note that SMA automations are not compatible with Orchestrator, and Orchestrator runbooks will not work with SMA.

SharePoint integration pack: New

Azure integration pack: First released with Service Pack 1, updated with R2

And, if you haven't heard yet, not new with R2 but recently available is System Center 2012 Orchestrator Unleashed (Sams, 2013). Published in September and covering Orchestrator 2012 Service Pack 1, Orchestrator Unleashed helps you to architect, install, implement, integrate, and maximize the value of System Center Orchestrator. Available in paperback, kindle, nook, PDF, and other soft copy versions, you can buy it at Amazon, and InformIT.

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